Chapter Twenty Eight – Homemade Water Park

"I'm seriously starting to lose count," Ben whined.

He'd been attempting to keep track of the number of puddles Suvi had stepped in, but the tally had gotten ridiculously high. The beginning of August had brought days of rain, which Suvi had fully enjoyed. Unlike him, Ben and Olivia hadn't enjoyed it as much and had been thankful when the downpour had finally come to an end. They could finally walk around outside again. Of course the lack of actual falling water wasn't preventing Suvi from finding every possible way to get soaked. Olivia was pretty sure that if he had avoided the puddles the entire bottom half of her pants wouldn't be wet. Having him avoid any form of standing or running water was asking way too much though. He was drawn to water like a magnet, and there was no changing that.

"I don't even know why you're trying."

"He has to be part fish."

Olivia smiled at Ben's slight grumbling. Her pants weren't the only ones that had paid the price for Suvi's enthusiasm. Luckily Ben's weren't anywhere near as wet as hers were. After Suvi's first splash through a puddle Ben had learned to put as much space between himself and the water whenever he saw a puddle coming. It had served him well. More importantly, it had served his pants well since they looked more splattered than a solid dripping mass.

At least they had before the most recent car had flown past then, kicking up a spray of water from the puddle on the side of the road. Ben had been closest to the street and the liquid fan. When the car was gone he was left with dirty water dripping off of him and more than just soaked pants. For a long time Ben just stood there blinking in shock. Olivia wasn't responding much more coherently. Only Suvi had formed a quick opinion on the new development. Why hadn't he managed to get in on the fun? Ben totally should have shared.

"Does that count as a puddle?" Ben asked as he flicked his hands in a vain attempt to remove some of the water.

It took a moment to process the seemingly random question.

"I thought you lost count anyway."

"I did. Just curious. And personally I think it should count for at least two puddles."

"Since Suvi didn't step in it, I'm not sure it even counts as one."

"Course it does. I still got soaked, and if it hadn't been in the street I guarantee you he would have gone for it anyway. It counts."

Olivia sighed and shook her head at him, though a tiny smile had appeared on her face. He was sopping wet and likely freezing but he was still trying to make jokes. Go figure.

"It's going to be a long trip back home," he sighed.

That was true. They were far closer to Olivia's apartment than they were to Ben's. It would be better to just go to her place, but did she want to bring him there? He'd stopped by her place the day she'd been sick, but that was the only time he'd been in her apartment. She'd hesitated then and was still hesitating now. Her hesitation didn't last as long this time though and she took pity on him.

"Come on, Ben. My place is closer, and you're going to need a shower. I'm sure I'll be able to find some sweats that sort of fit you while I wash these."

"I'm already looking forward to the hot water. Thanks, Olivia."

"I can tell. You're already shivering."

They picked up the pace so Ben could spend the least amount of time soaking wet as was possible. Olivia was thankful this hadn't happened when it was even cooler out. It was comfortable enough outside in short sleeves as long as they weren't wet. Thankfully he wasn't likely to suffer from anything worse than a minor chill and perhaps a bit of waterlog.

O . o . O . o . O

"Don't laugh," Ben called through the bathroom door.

"It can't be that bad."

When Ben stepped into the living room Olivia realized she'd been wrong. It could be that bad. While the two of them were close to the same height, Olivia's legs and waist were a lot slimmer. Her old NYPD sweat pants were stretched so tightly over his thighs that they almost looked like leggings. Incredibly bad fitting leggings. She seriously doubted the waistband would ever fit the same again since Ben had tugged the pants incredibly low on his hips to try and give himself a little more room. It didn't seem to be working much, and she didn't think they looked all that comfortable. It was a good thing she'd spent the time he was in the shower searching for a bigger pair.

"Told you," he said when he saw the surprised look on her face.

"Try these," she returned as she tossed him a large pair of sports shorts. "Your legs will be cold, but they should fit better."

Ben vanished back into the bathroom and returned a few minutes later looking much less silly.

"Better."

"Yeah. Your clothes should be out of the wash pretty soon too."

"No rush. This'll work."

He plodded over to the couch and dropped down next to her. Olivia reached out and touched his cheek, nodding when she found that his skin was no longer chilled.

"Much better."

"Better, but I could still use some warming up. My cheek's nice and cozy now."

Olivia knew exactly what he wanted to warm him up. She wouldn't mind curling up against him either. Of course that didn't mean she was going to do that so easily. It was her turn to tease him a little bit.

"Would you like me to have Suvi come over and sit on your feet? Or if you're really cold I'm sure I could get him settled on your lap."

"I'm sure he would keep me very warm, but I was thinking more along the lines of someone else."

"Never would have guessed," she replied as she moved closer and rested against him.

He slipped an arm around her and shoved his icy toes under her thigh. Olivia could feel the cold even through her jeans. Apparently the shower hadn't helped his toes as much as his cheeks, or if it had they'd cooled down again a lot faster. Ben squirmed in a little closer and then nodded toward the TV.

"Anything good on?"

"Mm, I don't really know. I just turned it on for some background noise when I was drying Suvi off. I'll see if I can find something."

She grabbed the remote and pulled up the guide. There was nothing decent on the first page so she began scrolling up. Still nothing was really catching her eye, and when she hit the kids' stations she started scrolling faster.

"Tarzan."

Olivia paused and glanced at Ben.

"What?"

"Tarzan," he answered with a nod toward the guide.

A quick look confirmed that it was currently playing.

"The Disney Channel? Really?"

"Hey, Tarzan has some good music. One of the songs is nearly perfect for us too." When Olivia gave him a blank stare he continued. ""You'll be in my Heart.""

"What?"

"Oh come on. Don't tell me you've never heard the song before."

"No, I haven't."

She was expecting him to decide they were going to watch the movie so she could hear it, but instead he suddenly began singing. All she could do was turn and stare at him. She had to guess that what he was singing was the song he'd mentioned, but she wasn't sure at first. When he hit the first round of the chorus she was positive that's what he was doing, and she was slowly starting to understand why he thought it was perfect.

Suvi didn't agree with their view on perfection, though he didn't care as much about the lyrics as Ben's singing. He whined softly. When that didn't receive any response, let alone the one he wanted, he stood and left. At least he would be safe from the awful noise in Olivia's bedroom.

Olivia chuckled softly.

"It looks like Suvi isn't a fan of your singing."

"Hey, I never said I was a good singer. I just like music."

"You're not that bad really."

"Yeah right."

"Okay, so your singing isn't very good, but I don't mind the song itself."

"You should take that to heart too, you know."

"Which part?"

"All of it."

Olivia wanted to believe that he would always be there, but she was hesitant. Nobody ever stuck with her for very long. He could say whatever he wanted. She'd heard it all before, and not just from boyfriends. Even her longtime partner, who she'd always counted on, had walked away. Life-long experience had told her to be careful when it came to relying on men. Their commitment couldn't always be trusted. Ben could be the same way. If he wanted to convince her that he would stay, words wouldn't be enough. His actions would be the determining factor. So far he was proving himself, but she didn't know how long that would last.

"We'll see."

Ben sighed but managed to keep his frustration to himself. Every time he thought Olivia was finally starting to trust him she said or did something that made him question whether she would ever fully believe in him. There were apparently a lot of barriers left, and he was getting rather tired of trying to knock them all down. Eventually he was going to run out of energy or find the need to get some dynamite strong enough to do the job for him. One or the other.

Author's Note: That's it for this round. I'm still working away at writing and have recently hit the 300 page mark. More will come! And it should be quick too. I'm already 3 chapters into the next round of 5.